With a Feather (knock me flat)
by royslady51
Summary: An unbelievable, rapid series of events reunites Rose with the Doctor. Unfortunately, it's the wrong Doctor. He's then got the chore of contacting the right future self to help her...and that still isn't the one she belongs to. Can he fix this? A/N:Rose tends to drop 'h's, her 't's and a few other letters when she is excited, exhausted or upset.


She ran easily at his side and with less effort than _he _was making, as he fled from yet _another _firebrand-bearing, angry, homicidal mob..._she'd appeared out of nowhere_, just suddenly she was there and with a good grip on the top of the back of his trousers at that, making sure the exhausted, injured, stumbling Doctor stayed on his feet as they ran. He had the notion that had there been no choice, the young blonde at his side _would _have carried him.

"You'll be _fine_, I _will _get you out of this." She told him, smiled at him, winked, patted him a bit...for reassurance, he rather thought as she scanned the horizon for something...she found it apparently. She changed their direction as soon as a hill cut them off from the villagers' direct line of sight. After taking what turned out to be a shortcut, the next thing he saw was his TARDIS...a scant ten feet away.

He got the doors open and pushed the girl in before slamming the doors shut, locking them, then leaning tiredly against them.

"See, I told you I would get you out of it." He heard, huffing a laugh.

"So you did, thank you. That was amazing."

"I've gotten you out of worse, Doctor. _Far _worse, and all I'll say about _that _is that it's in your Ninth regeneration, which due to another issue that will become _your _problem as soon as you're healthy, it's also my past and future at the same time if things stay the way they are...and that were several thousands of _Daleks _involved. The only good thing is that it wasn't anywhere near Earth..._that time._"

On the heels of that startling claim and with his realization that she knew _exactly _whose tail she'd just pulled out of the fire, she had a shoulder under his arm, had eased him down to the jump seat and was looking him over for cuts and such...which he had in plenty. Burns too, for that matter...then she pulled him up and supported his limping form to his MedBay _without _asking directions. Using a corridor _he'd _never seen before.

"No need for that sagging jaw...I am simply an experienced companion to a future regeneration, Doctor." She told him calmly. "I want you well and as I am rather odd for a human due to having experienced completely involuntary DNA alterations...and becoming a telepath as one of the direct results of that, I simply asked the TARDIS for a route _I _know. She hasn't put something strange in when you're hurt and exhausted. The TARDIS would not do that to you unless, of course, you've had another spat with her. Besides, the time for the sagging jaw at my non-reaction, was when we boarded."

He snorted at that one, smiled painfully, but shook his head and answered. "Not this time, no. So, what you're telling is that you're about to become a project."

"Oi, less of the bug under glass, thanks! And anyway, _I _haven't ticked her off...so she's hardly likely to do something mean to _me_...I'm Rose Tyler, from 2005, South London...Companion to the Tenth and I was with your Ninth as well...so, which regeneration am I about to plop a rather complicated problem in the lap of, anyway? Not that it _matters_, mind, as soon as you're healed I'm still going to _do _it...I'm just curious." Then she calmly stripped him to his underwear...checking his legs and feet first. She was brisk and efficient as she found and treated several cuts, burns and bruises.

"If Ninth hadn't _already _trained me out of such impulses, I would be _very _tempted to go back and beat those villagers." She growled as she looked up at the ceiling. "I'm going to need Ninth's formula. _He's been beaten bloody_."

He watched as a large jar of something he did _not _recognize appeared next to the girl. "You _know _I can't keep that."

"True...but _I_ _can_...so I'll put it in my pack and use it on you _as I see fit_...and just neglect to tell you what it is, _exactly_. And then you, unless you're slipping rather _badly, _since puzzles like that tend to drive you completely _barmy_...will scrape off some of the residue, take it into the lab, run some scans and figure it out for yourself. After this demonstration as to why you _should _make some, since it's perfectly fine for _him _to get something from _you_..._you can make your own_. Thus, preserving the time lines nicely." She told him as she moved to the rear of him and got his shirt off. "

He laughed out loud. "Sounds like you _do _know me quite well."

"Two full calendar years, Doctor." She checked his scalp and tended to the burns and knots she found, using the salve that healed and numbed painful areas. "I think you should aware, that those years led me on a one way path. There is nothing I would not do for you..._any _you."

He took that in, then nervously cleared his throat. "Oh, yes, by the way, I'm the Third." He said, changing the subject.

"Works for me. Wrong millennium entirely, of course, but the TARDIS makes that moot point." She smiled. "The short version is, I got stranded in a parallel universe and had to take the long way home through those paired off thin spots. When I _finally _found my home universe...which is this one, by the way, the first thing I discovered pretty fast that I was quite a few centuries off from where I _should _be...in sometime in pre-history, well into the B.C. era, seeing saber-toothed cats hunting wooly rhino sorta gives that impression and second, there was a harmless...but _really inconvenient_ incident involving some sort of space traversing wildlife that bore me off...and suddenly I wasn't anywhere _near _Earth. Got caught up in some kind of migration. Ended up on Rexlat 9, discovered I was a _lot _closer to my era to the tune several thousand years and checked my diary for ideas of where Ninth had told me stories of where you were stirring the pot in _this _age." She finished anointing the whip cuts and burns, then set to binding up his ribs. "Oh good, looks like she made sure that the MedBay has at least a _few _familiar things so I could find them...thank you, sweetie!" She told the ship with a grateful glance at a blank section of wall, then at him with a tongue touched smile as she gathered up what they would need for the rest of his injuries.

She handed him what he needed for the bits he _could _reach while she attended to the bits that he couldn't.

"So, as to how I found _you_, that was the easy part. For me, after two years with two regens of your elders, finding the current version was as easy as shootin' fish in a barrel. The formula works something like this: Find the diary entry that mentions the system, find the best TARDIS Attracter and head for it when it looks like it's ready to _explode_...I figured if I found the _smallest_, most xenophobic village with the worst reputation...chances were good I'd either see tha come runnin' out _with pursuit_...or else I'd have to lob in a few firebombs to get tha loose...and _then _I'd see tha come runnin' out _with pursuit_."

"That was you? Thank you...very good thinking."

She finished up on his back. "And they were just little balls of wheat flour paste made from water with a gunpowder core...let'em dry, and added a really _short _fuse. Then light an' lob...nothin' ta do any damage 'cause tha doesn't like tha...just _pops_, like...nothin' fancy. I do fancy about well you domestic."

"Effective, though, Ms. Tyler."

"Rose, please, Doctor." She looked over the back of his neck, shoulders and arms and got a few more burns seen to. "There, how's that feel? Salve workin'? S'not intended for humans mind, it's something you make for _yourself_."

"_Much _better, Rose. And your Ninth's formula is working very well. It numbs the pain immediately and the injuries I can see are already showing signs of healing." He turned his head and smiled at her. "Well trained, experienced companions dropping in out of _nowhere _when I need them the most, are something I _could _get used to."

She chuckled. "If it won't foul things up, I could stay until tha feels like returnin' to Earth, if tha'd be willing to drop me off at the Cardiff Torchwood in 2005 when tha do? I've missed tha, both of tha, actually." She glanced at the bare wall, reaching over to caress it. "I _hate_ seeing tha hurt."

She heard the tremor in her voice and was well aware _he'd _caught it. No longer distracted by painful burns and cuts from a whipping, he had no trouble noting her emotion-fueled, thickening accent. In a response that was absolutely predictable, the Doctor reached over to pull her chin around, got a good look at her tear-filled eyes and the amount of personal strength it was taking her not to...

She cut him off before he could speak. "Ninth's formula works pretty fast, though and you're injured enough to need food, then a trance."

"These are minor and shallow, a bit of nap will do me. Give me a few hours, Rose." He told her and cupped her cheek, felt the tremors running through her frame and frowned a bit. "How did you get trapped? Just the _incident _that trapped you...and which regeneration...okay? Remember to stay a bit _vague_, but not so much I can't understand what you're talking about. I'll check you if you get too far out of..." He frowned at her shaking head.

"Yes, but not now. _Now_, I need to see you fed and then trancing. I need you to be _whole_, Doctor."

"Rose?"

"It can _wait_. It's waited _years_, it can wait a few more hours: Being with you will do for now...and the TARDIS has a bit she do that will remove a good deal of stress." She looked up, "Take us out, girl? I want him calm and _stayin' _that way. He can wait a bit before I set his big ol' brain to buzzin'."

The lights flickered and then with the Third staring at Rose in shock, the TARDIS took them out and into the vortex without any help from him.

"Ninth was fine with simple space movements, but things tended to get a bit iffy when he did the other calculations...and Tenth was even worse...so I asked the Lady 15 months before the last time I saw him, to ignore _his _calculations and use her own...so we'd stop overshooting where we were aiming at. Ninth once confused 12 hours with 12 months, for instance. See, I _looked _19, when I was actually 14...and I was just 16 when...anyway, I looked old enough for a job, so I was able to get work to help with the family bills. And he never asked my age...but when I disappeared for a year my mother thought I'd been killed and...well...when he finally did bring me home she was somewhat less than welcoming."

"Ouch." Was all Third said, as Rose's hand dropped into her pack to grab something, then handed him a food bar and got him moving...and a few minutes later she settling him in for a nap in his room. He didn't recall moving down the hall...but he sat obediently...which worried Rose..and ate the bar without a fuss...which made her frown, but when afterward he laid down without complaint she caught a wave of upset from the timeship. And that's when he started scaring her.

"I won't tell you _anything _unless and until the TARDIS tells me you've actually _completed _a full, level five Healing Trance, Understood?"

_"Bully."_

"Worried and _sick _with it, actually. Go on, do it. Seriously, you're _scaring _me."

"I'm _fine_."

"_Bullshit_, you're wobbly, nearly out of your head and your concentration is shot to hell. You're not fighting me like you normally would...for all the protests, I've got you in jimjams and in bed already." She retorted. "Settle in, then." She watched him expectantly with her hands on her hips until he huffed, pouted and tranced down.

"Can I have those vital monitors Ten had you install in here? He can think they're temps an' me overly fussy if he wants, but I want readouts while he's down. There are some injuries to his skull that have me worried as hell."

She caught concern from the Timeship and as she attached the feeds, the TARDIS added a few more, directing her to attach them in the proper places.

Fourteen hours later the TARDIS informed her that her pilot was waking. Fourteen hours for a being whose normal sleep pattern was a minimal three or four hours, at most...under normal conditions...and not every day. He didn't come charging out, either.

"Taking a look at those feed records is he, girl?" She asked the ship after a bit.

It was the Doctor that answered. "I was, _yes_. It's a good thing you insisted. Didn't know that knock on the head was so bad."

"Doctor, you just let a total stranger treat you in your own MedBay, with a, to you, unknown medicine...and then march you to your room...and strangers shouldn't even know where that _is _and you didn't even ask me how I knew. You then let me bully you into a level five. Frankly, with every incident of no arguments or minimal at best, protests, it just scared me _more_." She told him. "NO Doctor should ever be described as 'docile'. It's just wrong on so many levels I can't begin to list them. _You were in a level five healing trance for fourteen hours..." _That last sentence was an anguished whisper.

"You're right, described like that, you're absolutely right. That doesn't sound like me at all. Speaking of that, though, now that I'm healed and back to normal, I believe you have something to tell me." He crossed his arms and leaned back against the door frame in a way that _screamed _Ninth to her eyes.

She drew in a deep breath, shocked. "Is...there another _aspect _present in tha just now? Am I seein' the one I think I'm seein'?"

"Ninth you mean? Oh yes, I asked my other selves who you belonged to before I came in here...who trained you...and he offered to show me how to handle you. Mind if I let him out for a bit?"

"No offense, but I don't know _this _set of quirks, yet, either...I'd prefer it, actually...for several reasons...not the least is there's something in his console room that I need...there's a bit _coral _my wolfie needs to say 'hi' to. This ain't gonna be easy for me and I need the..._support_. Ninth knows me _bone deep:_ He can probably see me shakin' from there."

"I can." And that was pure Ninth. "I'll address the age thing later...this shouldn't be done second hand though. You're in really bad shape, 'ashen' instead of pink and yellow doesn't suit you at all, Rose...hold on, I'll be there in a tic. Third, I'll land in the console room."

"That's startling. Didn't expect _that_."

"Oh, when you let him have good look at me...I thought he might. _Hoped _he would actually. Love ta spend some time, yeah...but he'll get me back where I belong...and it's been too long since I've been there. More to the point...there's differences enough between him and Ten that there's bits I need from his regeneration...and that's because Tenth just doesn't _get _it."

"Sounds like it. Yes, that might be best."

"Better get that sample before he gets here. Jar's in my pack in the MedBay, yeah? Bring with ya? Not too steady on my feet."

"Back in a tic."

He came back from doing that when they both heard the second TARDIS arriving...still holding her pack,Third helped her up and they joined Ninth..."I thought it best if we use your's. She's _really _wobbly. Said something about putting her back where she belongs when it's done. Also said there's bits she can't get from Tenth because he's not 'getting' it...something she needs. She didn't say what."

"There _is _that, too. The time difference is _much _closer, months, only. As for the rest...yeah, I'm gonna have to have a talk with him about that. To the Library, Rose. It's okay, this is my retirement form."

"I'm gonna need the wide one. The cotton print...and _blankies_...gimmie a sec. Wolfie needs a, a recharge, I think." She wrapped most of her body around the coral strut and let Bad Wolf connect with its parent vortex. Ninth was right behind her, knowing exactly what she was doing.

"Tha set? Made the contact? You're starting to scare me...don't use 'blankies' unless it's bad."

"Yeah. Better...sent a tendril in, not shakin' near so hard." She turned and leaned against him for a moment. "No offense, Third, but there's a tremendous lot of things that I can't tell you but ...he already knows. There's some things needed, see...part of what was stressin' on the younger TARDIS, this older one can fix. It's not all tha, see...much of what I need is _her_. And we're...really close...me and this great lug, and that's something I need. Badly. If I lose it with Tenth, he panics."

"Ah...oh, I see." And Ninth just wrapped her up in one of those bone crushing hugs she's been craving since he'd regenerated and hadn't gotten. "Too genteel with you."

"When the time came, you remade yourself into something you _thought _I wanted...without checking first." She told him. "I love you, all of you, but if you don't want me needing someone I can't have, be yourself instead of trying to make yourself into something weird."

"And someone who knows what's going on." Third Sing-Songed.

"Okay, I'll keep that bit. Sounds like that was a bad idea." Ninth answered, ignoring him.

"I love you the way you are...why would I ever want you to do something _that _silly?"

"Yeah, it'd help. Hugely. Unfortunate, he _doesn't _know that bit. She looked up into those blue eyes again, finally. "I miss you. So much...don't think I'm gonna be holdin' it together much longer."

"Oh, really." He got that suspicious tone. "What the devil?"

"Um, I'm about to, um...lose it on you." She told Ninth, "Sorry about that. It's been a huge amount of standard, English CALENDAR time...and it's about to catch up with me. To get home the long way, I had to go far enough into the future that time had run _out_...then wrap back around to this universe...and then slide down the vortex...Wolfie used someone's TARDIS tracks to guide her through the stuff. Hope he didn't notice...I know _she _did...but...don't know which regen he was and she didn't _say _nothin'. She could've stopped and picked us up, tha know? Rather hurt me feelins, tha."

"What the _**hell **_happened?" Ninth barked. "Wait, let's get you stable first. Explanations can wait."

The wide couch was there when they entered the library, Rose waited for Ninth to lay out on it along the back and then lay with him, facing him, felt his arms surround her, nearly crushing her, the way she loved. "Tuck in tight, then. And let's get you started grounding...you've never been this far out of balance." It took three of them, actually, the poor girl was _so _messed up. Ninth wouldn't let go of her and Third's power came in via his hand on the back of her head. Three days...it took them, with Ninth growing more worried the longer it took. The third...that was Tenth, called in by Ninth when Rose went comatose. She knew she was safe, this was stress and sorrow catching up to her. Nine and Ten murmured an apology and then nudged Third out of the way, to sandwich the girl between them.

"No problem. She's bonded to you both...and she clearly _needs _you."

And it still took a few hours...scaring Tenth... and that gave Ninth a good look about what Rose meant about that bit while Third repeated what she had told himself and Ninth.

"What the _devil _is she doing Third's time, then?" Ninth bit out."

"Now _that _she explained."

"_Share_."

Third caught them up on the little that she had told _him _and all three of them blanched when they thought about the rest of what she'd told them before she went down.

"Our Rose is the most determined person any of us know or will ever know. Ten, take her with you...when she's stable... She wants to go home. That means _you_. And _l'll _make sure Amy is an Andy when she's conceived. It will still play out properly, but without River in the time-stream...at least not born to _that _family. That will fix _that _whole problem, right there. Born to a prominent family, she'll be a wonderful girl with a decent go at a decent life."

"So it will." Tenth nodded, cuddling closer to Rose. "Still have the cracks to deal with, but a lad to rescue instead of a lass."

Rose woke slowly, a firm, cool skinned, bare chest under her left ear, it's double throb calm, steady and welcome. His scent, mingled with Space, Age and Time tickled her nose and thrilled her senses...the steady thrum of the right TARDIS in the right Time sang to her bones. She'd never felt so close to him, had never felt that he knew her like this.

"Tenth." She whispered."

"Yes." Came the answer.

"Right Tenth, right time, right TARDIS..._PLEASE_."

Arms came up and the body under her cheek shifted, pulling her close, cradling her against himself. "You're home, Rose, it's okay. We've got you. I'm here and Ninth is _very_ close to the surface...it's _all right_."

And somehow...it was.

~ Finis ~


End file.
